NORTHFIELD, Minn. - The Pacific Lutheran University women's soccer team dominated the stat sheet but was unable to come away with a goal in Friday's season opener as host Carleton College dodged not one but two bullets in a 0-0 double overtime draw.
 
The visiting Lutes (0-0-1) enjoyed a 19-7 advantage in shots, including outgunning the Knights (0-0-1) 6-2 in shots on target. Arguably PLU's two best chances came off the boot of Leah Magee who hit a shot off the post in the 44th minute before rattling another one off the woodwork in the 62nd minute.
 
"Today was a good first step. Playing away from home we generated 19 shots and 13 corners. We always talk about our 20-10 rule where we try to get 20 shots and 10 corners in a game and we were right there," said Head Coach Seth Spidahl. "So we had a bunch of process-based things to score a goal, including a couple of crossbars. Soccer can be a game where it just doesn't happen but for game one, to get those amounts of things was good."
 
Cassidy Crosswhite collected the shutout in her first career start in goal, making two saves in 110 minutes of action. Her counterpart, Anna Roethler, notched six saves on the afternoon.
 
"We concentrated until the end and really didn't worry defensively. We always want to win but we look at these games to get us ready for conference . We're further ahead than last time we played and better in a lot of areas, so overall a good first step."
 
The Lutes return to the pitch tomorrow, facing Saint Olaf College at 1 p.m. (Central Time) to close out the Minnesota road swing. 
 
"This is going to be a good character test. On paper Saint Olaf is a better team on paper and athletic and we're going to have to recover quickly and be strong tomorrow."